Uh-Oh, Microsoft: Chromebooks Were The Best-Selling Computers On Amazon For The Second Holiday In A Row

For the second holiday shopping season in a row, Chromebooks were
the top-selling computers on Amazon,
Amazon reported Friday.

That's bad news for Microsoft and its hardware partners, which
have shifted their Windows 8 computer strategy this year by
offering cheaper models. For example, the HP Stream laptop, which
got pretty good reviews, only costs $200 and comes with a lot of
free software like Microsoft Office.

Chromebooks are computers that run Chrome OS, which is
essentially just the Chrome web browser with a few extras.
They're typically very cheap, around $200 or $300, and only good
for basic computing like browsing the web, watching YouTube
videos, and emailing.

Of course, there some caveats. Amazon didn't give the specific
number of laptops sold. Plus, Windows devices still make up the
bulk of the PC market. Chromebooks are only a tiny sliver of the
market.

Finally, Microsoft is getting ready to release a new version of
Windows called Windows 10, which is supposed to fix a lot of the
gripes people have with Windows 8. Now that Microsoft has stopped
support for Windows XP, Windows 10 has the potential to kick off
a massive upgrade cycle and reinvigorate the PC market a
bit. Microsoft is holding
an event on January 21 to unveil even more features in Windows
10.

At the same time, Amazon's stats point to a real trend in
personal computing these days. We use phones and tablets for a
large portion of our activities. There's little need for a lot of
people to spend $1,000 on a computer when all they want to do is
surf the web and check Facebook. A $200 Chromebook is good
enough.